Global IT Deployment: References to Build On (Updated)

I would be dishonest to say that I am publishing my ideas here from a vacuum where only my own experience in global projects encompasses everything I want to capture in a global IT roll-out template. I trule believe in "The Medici Effect", or the value that stems from creating a space in which people from diverse fields of expertise can get together to exchange ideas, as described over at the Enterprise Resilience Management Blog. One of the reasons I enjoy this forum is the opportunity to engage with many thoughtful and intelligent actors from many different backgrounds. However this global IT roll-out template develops, it will be better off because of this interaction.

When I first did a search online for "global IT roll-out template", I discovered that there are not really any concrete resources online in the public domain and that others out there have similar questions. User "Arno" asks:

Up to now my organisation has used SAP (finance, logistics and HR) in 3 headquarters locations worldwide and a decentralised, homegrown ERP solution (with interfaces to SAP) in 140 odd country locations. The Board has now instructed management to roll-out SAP globally in the next 4 years. Has anyone got some "lessons learned" type info on this? Obviously the notion of dealing with 140 locations, varying quality of networks, 24 timezones, local support (e.g. Sudan, Liberia, etc.), languages, etc. is quite daunting.

Ironically, this is posted in ITToolbox for SAP users, a neat online community designed to amplify the Medici Effect from my first impressions, and a nifty tool that Arno should be keen to deploy internally within his company for their global deployment. His question has received some good insights and tips in approaching a global IT roll-out, but nothing at the template level. At other websites, I have found case studies or presentations that scratch the surface of the challenges involved and the basic approaches required in a successful global deployment. However, these sources do not detail or illustrate the tangible practices and tools that managers on the ground can immediately put in place to successfully execute locally or regionally what is demanded of them globally.

For reference in seeing how a template is outlined conceptually and being put into practice as we speak, we only need to go back to the Enterprise Resilience Management Blog. In September of last year, Tom Barnett and Steve DeAngelis formally presented their Development-in-a-Box (DiB) concept, the principles behind it, and the how the template for its deployment would be shaped. I had bookmarked the post some time ago without reading it, knowing I would someday go back and digest its value. As I read it this very moment for the first time, many words reflect what I have mentioned in my previous posts on a global template, and perhaps illustrates the influence Tom and Steve's work and the work of their blog friends have had on my thinking.

Because the deployment of DiB across borders would itself involve a global IT roll-out, the way Barnett and DeAngelis describe their own template has great value in this discussion. Below are the excerpts I find most relevant:

• "...the centerpiece of the approach is adapting internationally recognized standards and best practices to local conditions..."
• "both visions (of Tom and Steve) share an understanding of the importance of trust and how adhering to accepted rules can help generate it."
• "They (accepted rules) can be imported as "in the box" solutions and, when necessary, adapted to local conditions. Because they don't have to be reinvented or discovered in each new situation, valuable time is saved and precious resources aren't squandered."
• "(DiB) is about generating sustainable capabilities and interfaces not dictating content. It is about imporving quality and transparency in any area..."

The next pieces really hone in on the dynamics a global IT roll-out template should produce. I have purposely highlighted "community of practice" and "critical feedback loop", which for my purposes would equate with a community of implementation teams across the globe and the OODA loop respectively:

• "(DiB offers) a way to better coordinate their efforts with others in a larger community of practice building on lessons learned in the past. The beauty of communities of practice is that they are voluntary groups."
• "What keeps the group together is good will and shared objectives. Communities of practice also help refine the approach by sharing new lessons learned. They form the critical feedback loop that makes any process sustainable and valuable."
• "(DiB) doesn't ignore the special knowledge of those working locally; it provides a framework in which such knowledge can be more usefully applied. It doesn't try to impose an outside solution...but it helps reduce the number of roadblocks..."

In fact, we could probably say that the DiB concept is in itself a global template for the roll-out of development activities across borders. Thus, foundationally, any global template for the roll-out of supply chain technology should seek to emulate the DiB principles to the degree that they are tested and successful where the rubber meets the road. Based on my experience in global projects so far, my intuition is that DiB values are values that the global IT roll-out template I hope to develop here should internalize.

Comments

[SwizStick]

Glad to finally see you got around to updating your blog. It's been awhile since I checked in since you've been so quiet lately. Hope that this is a sign that things will pick up again, blogging-wise.

[Shawn in Tokyo]

Thanks! I am slowly getting back in gear...but I probably won't go back to logistics news commentary anytime soon. I am in one of those phases where I need to put out some original content and then later will probably come back to current events commentary.